480 Driver side passenger footwell fills with water.

[Russ,sdad]

I am now driving my son's 480ES as he is in Malta.

When it rains, the rear footwell, drivers side fills with water. I assumed the Sun Roof was leaking but I am now sure it does not come in through there.

In the past while it was SORN, I kept the roof covered with a plastic cover that covered the sun roof and the tops of the doors and no water got in.

Any one know where it is getting in?

[B20F]

Water can enter by the sidewindow or it can come from the rearclusters. The water enters at the backside and will find it's way to the rearfootwell, a common 480 failure. To repair it, the rearclusters must be sealed with a flexible sealant. Don't use (bathroom) sillicone, this hardens by means of acid and this will cause rust! There's a lot of sound deathening foammaterial under the carpet which captures a lot of moisture. So to eliminate moisture and smells you have to remove it and dry in house.
For further info take a look at http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo480/faq/index.php. Click on body and interior.

[Russ,sdad]

Many thanks for info. From looking at the forum I had read that it may be the light cluster and I think you would be right.

Today I removed the rear seat cushion and that was very wet on the bottom and the boot carpet was soaked on that side.

I have removed the old sealent and renewed it so I need it to rain to test it. Wont have to wait long!

Once again, thanks!

[GTMaster]

Thanks for sharing. Might come in handy for any future 480 buyer.

[Kimberley Smith]

Hello. I have just looked at this thread. I have had two 480s whose rear footwells filled with water. In both cases the rear side windows were to blame. Remove the trim strip from along the top of the window (by sliding it backwards then lifting it clear). You can then dig out the old sealant and replace with some silicone sealant.
My problem on my current 480 celeb is the front passenger footwell filling up. After many sessions of investigation I have decided that that it is getting in where the heater pipes enter the cab. Initially it also came in from the "tray" at the rear of the bonnet that was filling with water. I resolved that by unblocking the two drain holes.
Kim

[Paul240480]

I've had my 480 Turbo Auto for 6 years now & have been chasing leaks for 6 years too. Still not cracked it completely:stormy:

All of the above are favourite leak points. Also the door seals can let by. Once they age they harden & the seal just lets water pass into the cabin. There are companies that sell the strips by the metre. Much cheaper than getting one from mainstealer:thumbs_up:

Also, behind the wrap around rear bumper is a 'vent'. To get to it you need to remove the plastic trim in the boot. The one with the handy cubby hole on the off-side. Once removed you'll see a plastic vent. With mine, it let water flood in when poured from a watering can. It had no sealant, just a push fit thing. I've put a smidge of Auto/Marine Silcone around the 'hole' then pushed the vent back into place. There may be a similar vent on the near-side too not sure?

You cannot see the vent from outside as it is hidden by the wrap around bumper.

The boot seal strip will also let by............ Moonroof can do too.

Phew! Good Luck.

[ahal]

Hi,

I've been to hell and back with the 480 over the years. Tried just about everything, but eventually a new bootseal from Volvo ( not bad at 52 euro ) seemed to sort things. Prior to this I had had both side rear windows out, and they did not appear to have ever been 'sealed' in the traditional sense. The damned things just popped out ... no mastic!

Another area I've found to be suss on all the 400's is where the fuel filler pipe enters through the rear wing. It is not unknown for the petrol spillage trap to gather rainwater faster than it clears, letting water seep in around the outside of the pipe as it enters the boot.

The Vermuellen sunroof fitted to my 480 is a real lightweight effort. If you have the same and you suspect a leak there, try taking off the plastic trim inside the car, which is ironically enough like a continuous gutter by design. If I remember rightly there's a fastener which you can turn with a coin fore of the courtesy light at the front, just unclips otherwise.

What are the doors like? The 480 has very long and heavy doors as you know, and if they are out of alignment either in terms of being 'splayed' at the bottom or just plain dropped obviously they won't be forming a true seal.

Hope you get it sorted, nearly drove me mental!

Good luck,

Tony.